Track & Field - NEWS  

The triple Olympic gold medalist, and more of the regional contingent that dominated the track at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, are expected to be among the participants for the July 13-19 2009 Caribbean Games, to be hosted in Trinidad and Tobago.

Keith Joseph, technical sports consultant for the inaugural Caribbean Games, reported that International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) representative for the area, Jamaican Neville McCook, made the announcement at a Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees (CANOC) executive meeting back in July that he would deliver Usain Bolt for the Games, which will include five disciplines-track and field, boxing, volleyball, netball and tennis.

"And we are expecting that the governments of the region, who are funding these elite athletes to the tune of tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, will use their leverage to attract them to this event," said Joseph yesterday at a media briefing held by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the Caribbean Games at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.

For his part, Trinidad and Tobago Olympic silver medallist Richard Thompson, who has been promoting the Games throughout the nation, stated that he is looking forward to battling Bolt again soon with home advantage.

"It would be a pleasure to perform in front of the home crowd...it makes things more interesting," he revealed, "and since our silver-medal winning performance in Beijing, the expectations have gone way up. I would like to say even with Bolt and (Asafa) Powell here next year, our team would be working towards bringing gold home and showcasing the talent we have here in Trinidad and Tobago."

The other major revelation was that T&T's four-time Olympic medallist Ato Boldon would be the national coach of the Trinidad and Tobago Caribbean Games track team.

Boldon, who said that talks with the interested parties including the National Amateur Athletic Association (NAAA) were on-going about extending his coaching services to the top flight T&T track athletes in the build-up to the London 2012 Olympics, disclosed that this was one of his deepest passions.

"I told myself I had three dream jobs I wanted to complete," said Boldon, "one, to become a professional track athlete and that was over when I was 30; two, to share my passion in track and field with the world and I have that through my commentating jobs with NBC and CBS; and, three, was to lead our young men and women track athletes into battle for the next three-four years.

"I am excited at being ambassador for these Games, but I am even more excited of being coach of the men's and women's national team."

CEO of the Caribbean Games Francis William-Smith informed that the LOC was proceeding on schedule with the timelines and would be improving the facilities, including the Hasely Crawford Stadium, the Jean Pierre Complex and the volleyball beach complex at Saith Park, Chaguanas.

Also present at the media conference yesterday was Emmanuel Callender, who was part of the T&T Men's 4x100-metre silver medal-winning relay team in Beijing